Lion pictures and videos

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About #2220:

" "Deftly written . . . Patterson's book must now be considered the definitive Tsavo lion study... one of the world's leading experts on lions as well as an important conservationist."--Publishers Weekly

Through field research and forensic evidence, a scientist reveals his theory on why two Kenyan lions killed humans and then ate their prey
In March 1898, the British began building a bridge over the Tsavo River in East Africa. In nine months, two male lions killed and ate nearly 135 workers, halting construction.
After a long hunt Colonel J. H. Patterson killed the lions, which are now on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
As codirector of the Tsavo Research Project, Bruce Patterson has conducted extensive fieldwork throughout the region on these lions. In The Lions of Tsavo, Patterson retells the harrowing story of those bloody nights in Kenya. He presents new forensic evidence on these maneless lions and argues that the man-eating behavior exhibited in 1898 came from the encroachment of human populations on wild habitats.
Patterson continues this theory by exploring man's interaction with the changing Kenyan environment, creating a complete, up-to-date, and scientific look behind this intriguing murder mystery."

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This very interesting book contains a chapter (chapter seven) about the lions' mane and devotes the following one about these particular lions' mane. To sum up the maneless lion's mystery, its origin isn't clearly explained. Several hypothesis:
- Immature lions: hypothesis very easy to disprove because these lions are huge and their body fully developped.
- Very dry region: yes but what about the extant lions living in the Kalahari ?
- Paleontological origin of a hypothesis: like the American lion and the Cave lion, the Tsavo lions live in a region where the vegetation is very sparse and the density of the preys is very low. Thus, as concerns the hunt the male's participation is essential. Their favorite prey is the buffalo. It's too hard for the lone lionesses to kill a prey able to feed the whole pride (mainly because of the very long displacements they should do), the males too have to hunt by themselves as frequently as the females do. And in this case, an abundant mane in this kinds of landscape and activity would be a big handicap. Within the classical parks of East and South Africa (Serengeti, Kruger and so on) the male lions can take advantage of the tall grass in order to camouflage themselves, it's absolutely not possible in the Tsavo park. Reply

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Young male at Ngorongoro, Tanzania

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Credits: JP Kuvapankki Reply